Agree with most of this except that I think the Dolphins will be a huge disappointment.

You could be right about the phins. I don't pay too much attention to what other teams do besides the Patsies (and that's only because I live in Maine and work with a lot of ma$$holes). It also occurs to me that their additions were a lot like the Buffalo Bills, all for not.

But based on paper, just like the Bills last season, you would think they would be better this season.

That column was written by Eric Wibur who is not a Patriots reporter or columnist. He is a blog writer for all Boston related sports for Boston.com. Doubtful he will ever be close to Belichick or any other Patriots official to ask any question.

In fact, the Globe's Patriots writer wrote an article today stating the Pats were probably clueless to Hernandez's actions other than he hung with some bad dudes from his Bristol days:

Shouldn’t the Patriots have known what Hernandez was up to off the field — or at least known enough not to entrust him with a big contract and a major role on the team?

The answer, as usual, is complicated.

In hindsight, the pieces all add up; the alleged gun-related incidents that involved him in college and in South Florida; the loyalty to his friends from blue-collar Bristol, Conn., following the sudden death of his father when Hernandez was 16; reports of another double homicide and domestic incidents with his girlfriend that are now emerging; the lack of regard for the University of Florida’s drug-testing policies.

But look at Hernandez’s rap sheet before this murder charge. It’s clean.

The worst thing he did in college (officially) was fail a handful of drug tests for marijuana — which doesn’t tell the NFL he is a bad person, just that he’s undisciplined and is likely a four-game drug suspension waiting to happen.

And for three years in New England, Hernandez did everything Bill Belichick asked of him football-wise, according to a team source. He showed up to meetings and practices on time, practiced hard, stayed in shape, was very coachable, and starred on the field, scoring 18 touchdowns in three seasons. Just as importantly, he didn’t fail one NFL drug test in three seasons.

But when it came to Hernandez’s off-field activities, he would tune out and occasionally become angry when a coach or employee suggested he stop hanging out with some of his old friends from Connecticut.

It corroborates what the Wall Street Journal reported last week, that a personality test given to Hernandez before the 2010 draft gave him a perfect 10 for “Focus,” 9s in “Self-Efficacy” and “Receptivity to Coaching,” and a 7 for “Dedication.” He also scored a 1 for “Social Maturity.”

The Patriots knew he was hanging out with unsavory people, but how much can a team really dictate what a player does off the field?

The Patriots have control over their players during the season — from late July to the Super Bowl — and then from mid-April to mid-June during offseason workouts. They declined to say how many security and/or operations personnel they employ, but a former operations coordinator for multiple NFL teams said teams typically bring to road games three operations employees and 5-7 security officials, who generally are former police officers and detectives.

But from February to April, and mid-June to late-July, the players scatter across the country. Teams conduct thorough background checks on draft prospects, but monitoring their daily whereabouts once they’re in the league is impractical.

“It’s tough. You can’t baby-sit 61 players 24/7. You have to let them live their lives,” the operations executive said. “You have your guys you know are more likely to get into trouble, but sometimes even the good ones surprise you. A guy can be good 99 percent of the time, but the one mistake he makes can make the news.”

Hernandez moved to California in February to work out with Tom Brady and rehab his shoulder with a specialist. The Patriots are supposed to monitor his every move out there and know with whom he is hanging out?

“Teams don’t follow their players around or anything like that. Teams focus on giving guys the information and tools to protect themselves,” the operations executive said. “The first thing we told guys was, ‘Don’t drink and drive. And don’t be in suspicious places late at night.’ But the guys are going to do what they want. Some listen. Some don’t.”

Teams must straddle a fine line when advising their players. A good way to lose the locker room is to have coaches and football employees be a little too involved in players’ lives.

“In my experience, teams want to protect their investment in players but won’t cross the line into invasion of privacy to do so,” the operations executive said.

“Because I managed pretty much everything on the road, when we were on away trips everything kind of flowed through the operations staff. Players had my cellphone [number] and if they needed a cab, a ride, a hotel room or anything, I would facilitate it. Some agents have guys who do the same thing.

“We had a good knowledge of the areas we were in and strong relationships with hotels and their security, just to keep any low-level problems in-house — maybe a dustup between a couple of players in a meeting room or someone breaking curfew.

“I interacted a lot with the players and knew what a lot of them did on weekends or on certain nights. But I was never asked by the organization to divulge that info.”

The Patriots’ top brass probably knows it should have done more diligence on Hernandez, or built more protection into his big contract extension.

huh, what about Houston, SF and the seahawks and the Broncos,the three best defenses that they faced last year. and the first balt game.

30, 31, 23, ( in Seattle the most points scored by a visiting team) 42, 34, 41. you consider that struggling to score points? You listen to much to TV and don't watch enough football.

I think you have been watching too much regular season football and don't watch enough playoffs. Except for a garbage time score against the Jets after the game was out of reach, the Pats haven't broken 20 points in their final game of the season in years.

Belicheat didn't "know" taping opposing team's defensive signals was against the rules, even after Goodell sent him several letters about it, how could he possibly know Hernandez was a thug turd.

Do the patriots know Denard and Talib are both scumbags? Perhaps when they commit their next crime it'll be a shock as well.

Exactly. Probably, despite what the troll is telling us, another Pats media whore. I never heard of this reporter. However, one of the Globe's most recognizable journalists, Bob Ryan, was on ESPATSN this morning saying Belicheat needs to be held accountable and not given a pass. I agree with Ryan.

Exactly. Probably, despite what the troll is telling us, another Pats media whore. I never heard of this reporter. However, one of the Globe's most recognizable journalists, Bob Ryan, was on ESPATSN this morning saying Belicheat needs to be held accountable and not given a pass. I agree with Ryan.

Bob Ryan is retired as a sports writer and was never a Patriots writer. He was a Celtics writer and a sports at large writer. He has always hated Belichick and the Pats and pretty much anything that took away from Celts.

I might agree more with you if this all happened during the season. Fortunately they have an entire training camp and preseason to scheme around their personnel. They traded Moss after 4 games and adjusted their offense on the fly in 2010, back when no one had even heard of Gronk or Hernandez.

Amendola has nothing on Welker's production but lots of people around here like to call Welker nothing more than a shifty JAG who put up great numbers because of Brady. Now all of a sudden he is an irreplaceable NFL talent? If Amendola can stay healthy, he can certainly play enough of the "Welker role" to keep the chains moving based on his skill set. Oh, and he's 5 years younger, so that's a plus unless you believe that short white slot guys never age or decline, like elves or something.

And apparently Danny "nowhere near as good as McKnight" Woodhead is suddenly a huge loss as well, lol. Shane Vereen is taking over his role and is a better Kevin Faulk and already showed some flashes last year (Thanksgiving, anyone?).

It's really funny, guys produce in the Pats offense and you call them just a bunch of JAGs who look good because of Brady, and then when the Pats let them go it's "oh wow, I can't believe they got rid of him, the Pats are really gonna suffer now."

ESPN camped out in Cortland because they thought there was a legitimate chance Tebow could beat out Sanchez for the starting QB job and "Tebow Time" could keep on rolling. He was still living off of the Denver glory and everyone wanted to see more Tebow magic. Even when he was relegated to 3rd string there was always the belief he could get the nod if Sanchez failed, and magic could happen again. There is no such media delusion about Tebow's prospects at starting at QB in Foxboro. If the Pats bury him to QB3 throughout training camp there won't be much to report on day in and day out.

If Tebow starts getting reps at tight end, however, things could definitely change. The media would love to see that experiment. There are no indications, however, that he's being considered in that role for the team.

Belichick got pelted with SpyGate and cheating questions for an entire season in 2007, accompanied by running up the score controversies, his team's quest for NFL history, etc., and he didn't blink an eye. You think Tebowmania is going to be that much more meddlesome? Belichick's simply not going to answer questions about any of this, from Tebow to Hernandez to anything other than football-related questions pertaining to his current team. Rex felt the weight of the media when it came to Tebow... Belichick is an f'n boss when it comes to this sort of thing, it won't be the same at all. Dude can't be cracked.

Yeah, you and you Belichick pajamas and stuffed Belichick head shaped pillows are in for a rude awakening. Could you be any bigger of a shill?

those pats fans who don't believe tebow ( as well as lingering hernandez + gronk ?'s if he's not ready for camp) questions are going to be brought up through camp & into the season are living in a dreamworld

will BB be able to dampen their impact with his media dog & pony show? certainly, but they will still be an annoyance to the NEP

also to not believe that losing/swapping out the majority of brady's pass catchers is going to impact production would seem to be living in fantasy land to me as well.

unfortunately it is unlikely that Miami will be able to challenge them for the division ... and buff as well as us are even longer shots ... so NE is going to have a lot more question marks heading into the playoffs where it is most likely to hurt them.

is gronk going to be ready? when will he be 100% can Amendola stay healthy? will the Giants TE be able to fill the Hernandez role? how will the other new WR's perform?.sounding a lot more like NYJ than the typical Foxboro tale ... in addition to the how can we improve the defensive backfield redflag that NE finished last season with

+1

I love the denial and the insecure defense of any suggestion that the Pats take a step back this year...

Every Pats homer has a spin and promise that the Pats will be just fine!